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On November 4th, 1985, it was raining in West Virginia. The remnants of Hurricane Juan had already arrived after making landfall in Louisiana on October 28th. However, the rain was coming down with high rates over several hours, which would ultimately lead to one of the worst flooding events in West Virginia history, causing a half billion dollars in damage, and destroying nearly 5,000 homes.

The setup for this historic flood is a bit complicated meteorologically. Hurricane Juan made landfall in Louisiana on October 28th, 1985 and generally moved north into Canada over the following days. On November 3rd, a low pressure area developed over Florida and moved northeast along a cold front. This northeast movement brought in a large area of moisture that had been influenced by the remnants of Hurricane Juan’s track. That area of low pressure moving into our region became cutoff from the main jet stream as it moved in late November 3rd. Due to a lack of upper level winds, the remnants remained over our area for about 2.5 days, causing extreme rainfall totals to be recorded before moving out on November 6th (Click gallery below to view images).

Two people observe the damage around them on WV 72 in Rowlesburg (Courtesy of WV Regional and History Center).

Debris and Damage on the Blackfork Railroad Bridge near Parsons, W. Va. (Courtesy of the WV and Regional History Center).

An unidentified man stands next to a car and several houses that were flooded when a stream, possibly Seneca Creek or White’s Run, changed it’s course during the 1985 flood (Courtesy of the WV and Regional History Center).

Debris from flooding surrounds a home in Pendleton County (Courtesy of the WV and Regional History Center).

The town of Parsons received heavy damage from the flood, especially on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Debris, cars, a damaged bus, and a damaged truck surround a church after the flood in Mouth of Seneca, W.Va. (Courtesy of the WV and Regional History Center).

Debris, damaged cars, mud, and water remain in the street in front of the courthouse in Parsons, W. Va. (Courtesy of the WV and Regional History Center).

Here, a cow carcass is entangled with flood debris beneath the Cheat River Bridge in Saint George. Photograph by John Warner, courtesy of the West Virginia State Archives.

A church in Onego, W. Va. is surrounded by water from a creek that used to be behind it. The flooded and muddy field was previously a green pasture. (Courtesy of the WV and Regional History Center).

RAINFALL

The heaviest rainfall occurred during the late afternoon and evening hours of November 4th into the morning hours of November 5th. Rainfall was enhanced over the Appalachian Mountains due to the process of orographic lifting, a process where the terrain of mountains force air to rise, condense, and cause rainfall to occur. Though lower elevation towns such as Spencer, Grantsville, Elizabeth, and Charleston received generally 3-4″ as a result of the storm (which is still enough to cause localized flooding), the enhancement of rainfall caused by orographic lifting dumped rainfall totals in excess of 10 inches in Pendleton County. Parts of Tucker, Randolph, Pendleton, Grant, and Hardy counties all received in excess of 8 inches of rain as a result of the storm, which caused unprecedented flooding to these areas in particular. A wide swatch of eastern West Virginia (shown below) received over six inches of rain, which led to widespread flooding issues on several river basins, including but not limited to the Greenbrier, Cheat, Tygart, Little Kanawha, Buckhannon, and Potomac Rivers.

Rainfall totals were extreme across most of the eastern half of West Virginia, with a wide swatch of 6″ (shown in red) reported across the area. The highest rainfall totals occurred in Pendleton County, where close to 11 inches of rain fell (Click on image to zoom).

A total of approximately 4,389 homes were destroyed in West Virginia as a result of the flood. Nearly 1,500 of those homes alone were in Grant County. In addition, 762 homes were condemned, and 3,033 homes received major damage in the Mountain State. 131 busineses were destroyed, 23 businesses were condemned, and 474 businesses received major damage. 103 bridges were affected, 429 highways were affected, and 15 schools were affected as a result of this tragedy in West Virginia. It is estimated that over 2,500 people were left homeless, and damage was estimated at $500 million dollars in 1985. 47 people were killed. Ten water gauges in West Virginia recorded record levels. Water records are shown below, as well as a county-by-county analysis of damage received in each county, provided by the book “Killing Waters: The Great West Virginia Flood of 1985”.

Flood waters surge toward the truck as it attempts to make its way across a roadway along the Greenbrier River in Summers County (Courtesy of the West Virginia and Regional History Center).

The flood caused serious economic damage to eastern West Virginia, and population drops in towns reflected some of that damage. From 1980 to 1990, the population dropped from 1,937 to 1,453 in Parsons, W.Va. (-25%), 966 in 1980 to 648 in 1990 in Rowlesburg, W.Va. (-33%), 2,155 in 1980 to 1,923 in 1990 in Glenville, W.Va. (-11%), 1,352 in 1980 to 1,148 in 1990 in Marlinton, W.Va. (-15%), 2,038 in 1980 to 1,850 in 1990 in Belington W.Va. (-9%), and from 357 in 1980 to 195 in 1990 in Albright, W.Va. (-45%).

For a more in-depth look at this terrible West Virginia tragedy, I highly suggest purchasing “Killing Waters: The Great West Virginia Flood of 1985” by Bob Teets and Shelby Young.

The cooler fall air is finally arriving in our region with the passage of a cold front. That cold front was the feature piece of a storm system that dropped a general 1-2″ of rainfall to our region Monday. A couple of areas saw even higher rainfall totals than that. For a list of rainfall totals from Monday’s storm system, check here.

In the meantime, the coldest air mass our region has seen in six months is moving into the region. The last time both Charleston and Elkins did not reach 50 degrees for a high temperature was on April 7th, and I think both cities have a good chance of not reaching 50 degrees Wednesday for high temperatures. Frost Wednesday night will be a little less likely for the lowlands than last week thanks to a cloud deck that should remain in our area during the nighttime hours. A few frost advisories may still be posted – we’ll let you know.

Though this colder weather may be a shock to the system for some, it will be short-lived. An upper level trough is currently placed over our region, but a large ridge of upper level high pressure looms to our west, and will move into our region this weekend. This means that warmer temperatures are again on the horizon for the weekend.

Looking ahead toward Halloween, the colder weather pattern looks to return, as the kids may get a chill as they’re getting treats for Halloween…

A west-northwesterly wind will bring in our coldest air mass in 6 months to our region.

High temperatures Wednesday look to remain in the upper 40s for the lowlands, with 30s likely for highs in the mountains.

Our area will be seeing big changes in weather over the next couple of weeks. We’ll be cold for the next couple of days, followed by a few days of warm weather, which will then be followed by more cold weather as we head toward Halloween.